Getting something for Stagecoach

Stagecoach is always the last to get anything.

That's the conclusion Stagecoach residents have come to, said Dorothy Hubbell, as they watch other Lyon County communities grow and get new or improved infrastructure.

So to make sure the community of about 2,000 residents gets its fair share of improvements, Hubbell and her husband, John, have started a new community organization, the "Can-Do" Residents of Stagecoach Inc.

"Our purpose is to seek out volunteers and residents who want to make a difference in the Stagecoach community," she said. "We're here to encourage residents to participate in making decisions for our community."

The decision the residents most want to see made by county officials is that Lyon County will take over more of the roads.

"The roads are not being cared for; there's no upkeep and some have been dirt forever and ever," Hubbell said.

"You buy a piece of property, they give you a permit to build a house, then you have to build your own road if you're the only one out there. But after other people move in, the county is supposed to take over that road. But it never happens that way."

The Hubbells have lived in Stagecoach since the late 1970s, and remember when they didn't have many neighbors. Their street, Iroquois, was chip-sealed in the mid-1980s, Hubbell said. But most of the other roads, even those with residences, are not.

"They did that mostly because it was a school bus route," she said.

Anger over the roads was one reason 52 residents turned out for a meeting last week the "Can Do" group arranged with Lyon County Road Division manager Gary Fried and commissioners Chet Hillyard and Don Tibbals.

Fried said for the county to take over a currently non-maintained road, residents living on that road would have to pay for a chip-seal.

At that point, he said, the county commissioners would decide whether to take it over.

The county's Web site states that there are 335 miles of dirt roads not maintained by the county and that commissioners must approve any request for a road to be maintained. The commissioners meet twice a year, on the third Thursday of March and September, to consider new roads to be added to the maintenance system.

Tibbals told the crowd to get together and make sure their problems are placed on the commissioners' agenda for an upcoming meeting. He also assured the group that if a lot of residents show up at the meeting, or write letters, they'll get the board's attention.

So with that in mind, Hubbell said, the Stagecoach road issue is expected to be on the agenda for the March 16 commission meeting.

Hubbell said the poor roads lead to a lot of dust as well as drainage problems when it rains.

"Since they aren't maintaining these roads, they have no drainage," she said. "Then we have to worry about people upstream, who allow water to come down."

Hubbell explained that she believes many of the Stagecoach residents who have moved there recently came from urban areas and inadvertently cause drainage problems.

"In the city you drain everything to the paved street," she said. "People are draining to the dirt road that has no ditches on the side. It comes down and there's no stopping it."

The drainage problems came to a head during the New Year's weekend, when heavy rains brought sporadic flooding.

Hubbell said she wants Lyon County officials to maintain more Stagecoach roads, paving or at least chip-sealing the most heavily used ones.

"They can't get ambulances or other emergency vehicles on the roads," she said. "There are a lot of elderly (people) out here, and we need roads. We've been paying taxes for roads and we expect to have roads."

Another other thing the residents would like to have is their own post office, Hubbell said.

"I've been trying to get a post office for this area for 20 years," she said. "We still don't have a post office. Even little Silver City has a post office."

But Stagecoach doesn't, Hubbell said, proving it's the last place to get anything.

-- Contact reporter Karen Woodmansee at kwoodmansee@nevadaappeal.com or 882-2111 ext. 351.

On the Net

To find out more about Lyon County road acceptance policy, go to:

www.lyon-county.org/roads/forms.htm